Michigan State University students had an unconventional math class this week after professor John McCarthy, 57, reportedly stripped naked in Calculus 1 class and began screaming that “there is no f—ing God” and “It’s all an act and none of it’s real.” In the age of laptop computers, the most surprising thing is that the students noticed and looked up from their computers. Presumably one student asked the standard question of “will this be on the test?”
Category: Society
While it has attracted little media attention, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has quietly changed its policy on the posting of ads deemed controversial after the outcry over an ad campaign by American Freedom Defense Initiative executive director and blogger Pamela Geller. Muslims and others objected to the ads and at least one columnist was arrested for destroying the posters. The ads read “In any war between civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.” Now MTA has announced that it will reserve the right to refuse any ads deemed likely to “incite” violence or “other breach of peace.” It is another measure rolling on free speech and forcing speakers to adhere to the anticipated reaction of third parties.
I was recently interviewed by The New York Times over my pet peeve regarding travel fees imposed by airlines and hotels. Now, Spirit Airlines has announced that it will charge a $100 fee for a carry-on bag. Conversely, other airlines are increasing their charges for checked bags which has generated billions in new revenues. There will be a $70 checked bag fee on international flights at American for some flight, for example. At one time, airlines blamed the new fees on fuel costs but that rationale fell away as the fees continued regardless of fuel costs.
A Chinese restaurant has reportedly closed after customers saw staff wheeling in road kill to be used in the kitchen of Red Flower Chinese Restaurant in Williamsburg, Kentucky. The truly unnerving part of this story is the police report that the owner did not know that it was a problem to use road kill as a meat source.
Continue reading “Dinner A La Car: Chinese Restaurant Shutdown After Found With Roadkill in Kitchen”
This video shows a ranking Philadelphia officer sucker punching a woman during a parade for Puerto Rican heritage. There is no apparent provocation and the woman was walking away at the time. (Updated below)
Continue reading “Video: Philadelphia Officer Sucker Punches Woman At Heritage Parade”
We have yet another rampage by Muslims protesting religious intolerance. Muslims claimed that a Buddhist man posted a picture deemed insulting to Islam. They responded by promptly burning down at least four Buddhist temples and then burning down the homes of at least 15 Buddhist families. That should show people not to be religiously intolerant.
We have previously seen Rev. John Hagee and his rather twisted sense of the divine (here and here). Now it appears that he is turning to military history and explaining how prayer and fasting clearly ended the civil war. Hagee was introduced recently by Glenn Beck as “a prophet of our times” and sat enraptured as Hagee explained how Lincoln was able to bring an end to the civil war with a day of prayer and fasting.
Shaaban Ali is an honest taxi driver in the UAE. The Pakistani driver found Dh36,000 ($10,000), a passport and some other documents left by a Saudi passenger in his cab. He worked to track down the owner and soon found his office number. He then contacted the man and waited more than an hour for the man to arrive to pick up the money. The Saudi then gave him a $3 tip for returning the papers, his passport, and the cash.
It just might be the worst endorsement ever. Seventeen top economists were asked who would be better for the economy: Romney or Obama. It was clearly viewed as a question of the lesser of two evils by the economists. Nine out of 17 economists selected Romney but Bill Watkins, executive director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at Cal Lutheran University, selected Romney with the world’s best example of damning with faint praise: “Romney’s policies would likely be less bad for the economy than Obama’s.” Like five others, Gary Rosenberger of EconoPlay, simply refused to “pick your poison” between the two men.
Continue reading “The Overwhelming Choice of 9 Out of 17 Economists?”
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
The trauma many kids face in high school from cruel teenage high-jinx is an underrated psychological pain. Self-described “outcast” Whitney Kropp is a survivor, though. Kropp, who attends Ogemaw Heights High School, thought she had finally gained some social acceptance when she was unexpectedly elected as sophomore representative to the homecoming court. Sadly, her classmates in rural Michigan had played a cruel joke on her as they made it clear they sought only to embarrass the 16-year-old with the sham honor. Whitney spent the night in tears and even seriously considered suicide.”I’m like, ‘Wow, I feel like trash,'” Kropp said. “I feel like I’m a little thing that no one really cares about.”
Continue reading “Grace Under Pressure: The Little Kropp That Could”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
I’m a fan of professional football and I’ve followed it for almost 60 years. Many of those who come to this site, especially our Proprietor, are football fans as well. The game is exciting to watch lending itself perfectly to television viewing, as compared to the other professional sports. However, this is not a post about the sport, the players, its violence or its merits. This is a critical look with the overarching corporate structure of the National Football League. The NFL has become the most lucrative sports business organization in the United States, receiving approximately $8 or $9 Billion a year from TV networks and its revenue from all other sources, including licensing, radio and satellite TV. On average each of the NFL’s 32 teams earns an average of $175 million per year which includes ticket sales. Under the collective bargaining agreement, won after a threatened “player lockout” in 2011, each team has what is known as a “hard salary cap”, which means that the total each team pays to its players is capped at a fixed amount which cannot be exceeded. Currently the cap per each team is about $130 Million per year. Therefore the average NFL team probably makes a profit of at least $30 Million per year after other expenses. Given the state of business, any corporation of medium size that would receive a guaranteed net profit of $30 Million yearly must be considered very fortunate.
The NFL has a rule barring corporations from team ownership:
“Ownership groups must contain twenty-four or fewer individuals, and at least one partner must hold a thirty percent or greater share of the team. The Green Bay Packers are an exemption to the current policy, since they have been a publicly owned stock corporation since before the rule was in place.”
At first glance this may seem a salutary policy, but in operation the League’s ownership consists mainly of billionaires, who are either football fans, publicity seekers and/or both. In fairness I must admit that some of the current owners are descendants of their teams’ founders, such as the Rooney’s in Pittsburgh, the Mara’s in New York and the Halas family owners of Professor Turley’s beloved Bears. Mainly the teams are run by people who made their money in other professions and decided that a football team would make a great hobby. The problem is that the “hobbyists” have and are exhibiting the type of business philosophy that seems to have taken hold in America, which is a ruthless model, in which their employees and even their customers, the fans, are merely pawns to be run over roughshod as they satisfy their egos and their greed. After the break I’ll explain my thinking on this and show why I see the NFL as a metaphor of what’s wrong with our country. Continue reading ““The NFL and what’s wrong with America””
One of the things that we teach law students is how to address a jury in understandable terms without talking down to them. It is sometimes a delicate balance in dealing with complex questions or fact patterns. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed how not to strike that balance when he took the entire United Nation’s General Assembly through a “this is a bomb, this is a fuse” demonstration that instantly became a mockery around the world. That was a real missed opportunity when following Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who never fails to offer a clownish, absurd performance. It is one of those debates that you win by showing up and just stating your case . . . until you pull out cutout from the Rocky & Bullwinkle Show.
Continue reading “Yes, Indeed Mr. Prime Minister, This is a Bomb”
Last night I had the honor of speaking at the celebration of the Magna Carta at the National Archives in Washington. The event is part of the new campaign by the Trust for the National Mall. The dinner was held in the Rotunda Gallery with the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, and one of the copies of the Magna Carta. Introducing me was the man who owns that Magna Carta, David Rubenstein. That’s right, he owns the 1297 version of Magna Carta.
Continue reading “The Trust for the National Mall Celebrates The Magna Carta”
Audrey Deen Miller has proffered a unique defense to charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon: she shot her husband to protect her cat. The police report that Miller’s husband threatened to shoot one of her cats with a pellet gun. She did him one better and shot him in the abdomen with a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun.
Source: KHOU
Continue reading “Texas Woman Shoots Husband To Protect Cat”
It looks like the bicycle out of the Flintstones but two German designers believe “the Fliz” is the future of biking. I have my doubts.